The present invention relates to corner protectors useful for shielding the corners of cabinetry and the like during shipping, storage and handling.
Wood cabinetry, particularly cabinetry for home and kitchen installation, is manufactured in part and then shipped to the location in which it is installed. Often the cabinetry is shipped to a central storage location or vendor prior to delivery to the customer, or end user, for installation. The cabinetry can be damaged at any point in the distribution process. If damage occurs, the entire cabinet must be replaced, or a substitute part must be delivered and the cabinet repaired on site. Either choice is expensive and time consuming. Accordingly, the top and bottom corners of cabinets are particularly susceptible to damage, and are usually shielded by some sort of corner protector. Such protectors are removed and discarded when the cabinetry is delivered for installation.
Corner protectors should be distinguished from cabinet corner braces. A corner brace is installed permanently in the interior corner of a cabinet to rigidify the cabinet. Unlike corner protectors, corner braces have been highly developed. For example, many cabinets are shipped without a top so that the consumer is then able to install any of a variety of different tops of their choice on the cabinet. Since the interior shelf is shipped with the cabinet, corner braces have been designed to carry the interior shelf thereon (further rigidifying the cabinet during shipping) for subsequent removal and installation within the cabinet prior to installation of the top. See T. Marsh, U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,078. Such corner braces do not protect the exterior corner of the cabinet from damage.
Current corner protectors are rudimentary in nature, and typically formed of corrugated paper or plastic. Such corner protectors must be fastened in place with staples or the like, or held in place by the outer packaging (corrugated cardboard, shrink-wrap packaging, etc.) of the cabinetry. Comer protectors that include some sort of means for engaging the corner are not currently available.
Accordingly, a first object of this invention is to provide a means for protecting cabinet corners during shipping, storage, handling and the like.
A second object of the invention is to provide a cabinet corner protector which incorporates a means for securing the protector to the cabinet without the need for stapling, external wrapping, or the like.
A third object of the invention is to provide a cabinet corner protector which can be quickly and easily installed at the manufacturing plant for shipping of the cabinet.
In addition, since cabinet corners are frequently formed from side materials of two different thicknesses (e.g., the front wood being thicker than the side material), it is optionally preferred to provide a corner protector that can easily be installed on a corner formed from sides of two different thicknesses.
In view of the foregoing, a first aspect of the present invention is a corner protector useful for shielding the corner of a cabinet from damage during shipping, storage, handling or the like. The corner protector comprises:
(a) A top member having an outer portion, an inner portion, and a substantially flat planar bottom portion
(b) A first pair of arm members connected to the top member outer portion and projecting downward therefrom. The first pair of arm members are positioned substantially perpendicularly to one another. Each of the first arm members has a generally flat planar bottom edge portion oriented substantially parallel with one another, and substantially parallel with the top member bottom portion.
(c) A second pair of arm members connected to the top member inner portion and projecting downward therefrom. Each member of said second pair of arm members faces a corresponding member of said first pair of arm members. Each of the second pair of arm members has a generally flat planar bottom edge portion oriented substantially parallel with one another, and substantially parallel with said top member bottom portion.
The second arm member bottom portions are spaced downward from the first arm member bottom portions so that the corner protector can be easily installed by hand in a simple, rapid, forward-sweeping motion on a cabinet corner to shield the corner from damage. Preferably, one of the first or second pair of arm members are rigid arm members, and with the other of said first or second pair of arm members are resilient arm members, so that said resilient arm members engage the cabinet corner in a clamping or spring-like manner after installation thereon.
In one embodiment of the foregoing, the corner protector further comprises:
(d) A shelf member interconnecting the second pair of arm members, the shelf member having a generally flat planar top portion oriented substantially parallel with the second arm member bottom portions.
(e) A frangible junction interconnects the second pair of arm members to the top portion.
The second pair of arm members and the shelf portion together form a corner brace member which can be fastened to the cabinet corner after installation of the corner protector, so that the top portion and the first arm members can together be separated from the corner brace to leave the cabinet corner unshielded and the corner brace installed in the cabinet.
The present invention is explained in greater detail in the detailed description and drawings set forth below.